Keepsake Memories and Moments
by Skyward98
Summary: Everyone always got him wrong. Everyone on the outside of his walls thought Donald Davenport was just a greedy business CEO of a high tech company and his first thoughts were on money, never on Adam, Bree and Chase. No one guessed that he secretly loved and cared for the three bionics. Davenport's true feelings and colors come into perspective when he is left alone with ill Chase.


**Little one-shot...hope you'll like it! Daddy Donnie and sick Chase!**

**I own nothing but the plot.**

Keepsakes

"Under the tongue." Donald instructed the sick boy. Chase complied, shivering underneath his blue plush blanket. "How in the world did _you _out of everyone else manage to get sick, Chase?" Davenport asked rhetorically. Chase blinked up at him with big green eyes. The thermometer beeped, and Davenport slid it out Chase's mouth and looked at it. He groaned. "103.2." Chase shivered again, ducking underneath the blanket for warmth.

"It'th cold in here!" Chase whined, sweat pouring off of his forehead. Davenport sighed.

Chase had been up all night with a persistent cough that did not want to go away. Davenport had told him to go ahead and go to school, since it seemed to be only a cough. Donald had gotten a call about nine a.m. from the nurse that Chase had passed out in Home Ec. earlier, and his temperature had gone through the roof. Now, Chase was running a high fever, with a sore throat, horrible cough, nausea, accompanied by fainting and dizzy spells.

Donald was left alone to care for the boy, not that he minded. Tasha was gone out on a trip with the news team, Bree and Adam were still at school, and Leo was on some field trip, and wouldn't be back 'til late tonight.

Chase himself looked awful. His bronze hair stuck to his forehead, matted and sweaty, his face was sickly pale, tinted with green, and his green eyes were clouded over. Chase was slightly delirious from the fever and the over-the-counter remedies that he'd swallowed earlier.

Donald sighed again and tucked the blanket tighter around his sick son, smiling tinily when Chase sighed happily(as happy as someone could get when they were in the worst of a cold) and snuggled into the blanket. The smile widened as he ran his fingers through Chase's hair soothingly and the boy leaned subconsciously into his hand.

Keepsakes

Chase sighed again, snuggling deeper into Davenport's side. His arm tightened slightly around his waist. Davenport had sat down on the couch earlier and Chase (sick, delirious Chase) had snuggled into him immediately. Davenport had shrugged and decided to roll with it. The boy was sick and not in his right mind, he wouldn't remember it anyway. Though Davenport sincerely hoped he would. Chase shoved his face into the crook of Donald's neck, sighing, again, with contentment.

Everyone always got him wrong. Everyone on the outside of his walls, even Adam, Bree and Chase at times, thought Donald Davenport was just a greedy business CEO of a high tech company and his first thoughts were always about making money, and not about Adam, Bree, and Chase. More times than not, and it pained him to admit it, but they were right. Donald often let money making get in the way of being a father to the bionic kids. When they went on strike, or refused to let them go out and try to live a normal life, Donald had stopped them and refused, all because a new opportunity to gain cash in the Davenport bank account had come up.

But Donald loved them all dearly. They were his world, his life. He'd gone ballistic when he learned Chase had gone to Antarctica when he had _forbade _him from going, and when they had left to try and protect him when they had slipped up in school and revealed their bionics to Perry, he nearly lost his mind to extreme worry. Donald had meant it when he told Leo in the elevator that he was crying for the kids, not that Leo had believed him. Like he could help it when he broke down! But because he had let pride get in the way of caring and showing Adam, Bree and Chase just how much he loved them, Donald had to keep up the persona of the 'greedy businessman', not because he wanted to, but because nobody would believe him if he did. It was little moments like these that he ever got to show his affections, with Chase sick and snuggled into his side while his shoulder was being used as his baby's pillow, moments like these he would cherish forever, lock them up in his memory and keep the key all to himself.

"Look at Daddy Donnie!" Eddy jeered, popping up on his screen by the door and jerking Donald out of his thoughts. Davenport scowled. "Can I come over and cuddle too?"

"It's his fever, Eddy, and the meds. He gets cuddly, it's not his fault!" Donald hissed at the security software, his arm tightening around Chase instinctively.

"Daddy Donnie gonna feed wittle baby Chasey too? Should I warm up the bottle?" Eddy teased.

"Shut up!" Eddy thought that Donald was mad about the teasing 'Daddy Donnie' comments. Boy was he off! "You'll wake up Chase! Be quiet!" Eddy gaped at the tech mogul and disappeared from the screen. Donald sighed and settled down.

Chase whimpered, his face flashing in fear. _Nightmare. How could I forget that Chasey's prone to nightmares when he's sick? Oh yeah, he hardly ever gets sick!_ Davenport thought. Tears leaked out of Chase's closed eyes, alarming Donald. Donald sat them up and pulled Chase into his lap, (which wasn't hard, the kid was _light_) holding him close. "Shh, it's okay Chase, I got you." Donald soothed, his voice like velvet. "I got you, buddy."

"D-Daddy?" Chase whispered. Donald froze, then melted, a look of pure joy and warmth on his face.

"Yeah, Chasey. I got you buddy. It's okay." Davenport held Chase tighter.

Chase buried his face into Davenport's firm chest. "So warm." Chase mumbled sleepily.

"Go back to sleep, bud. I got you." Davenport coaxed. Chase sighed and snuggled closer to Donald, falling asleep quickly and deeply. The tech mogul's mind was racing.

_He-He called me Dad! _Davenport felt like dancing around the room, before harsh reality set in. His face fell. _Never, if Chase was in his right mind and healthy, would he have called me that. He's sick, and he probably wasn't thinking straight. He didn't mean it, it was a slip up. _Davenport's heart cracked just a bit.

But it had also swelled as he held onto his baby, and had added another, even more precious keepsake memory for Donald to lock up and hold onto the key.

Keepsakes

_Two days later_

Chase's knee bounced impatiently as he waited for the thermometer to beep. His cold was pretty much gone, they just need the thermometer to prove it. He wasn't coughing, his throat wasn't sore, and the dizzy spells weren't to be seen, plus his memory of the day he came home sick was a blur. It beeped, and Davenport pulled it out. The two of them, plus Bree and Leo were in the lab. "Well?" Chase demanded. He was going stir-crazy in here!

Davenport grinned softly. "Well, I could keep you here because of this.."

"Mr. Davenport!" Chase groaned. "I've been trapped in this house for three days!"

"But I guess you can go out. 99.9 degrees." Davenport shooed them. The three bolted for the elevator, not even sparing a glance at the CEO. Davenport sat down at the cyber-desk, sighing.

"Aww...Does Daddy Donnie miss his baby already?" Eddy teased. Donald shot the computer program a half-hearted glare.

"Eddy, don't make me turn you off." Davenport threatened.

"Say no more, Donnie!" Eddy chirped cheekily. "I'm gone."

"'Daddy Donnie'?" Tasha's voice asked from behind the tech mogul. He turned around to find his wife grinning softly at him.

Donald shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Eddy's just being annoying."

"If that was just Eddy being annoying, why did you threaten to shut him off? Feel free to do that by the way." Tasha added.

"Tasha," Davenport groaned.

"Sorry, force of habit." Tasha apologized, walking over and taking his hand. He squeezed her fingers gently. "Come on, Donald. I know you better than you give me credit for. What is it about what Eddy said that has you so annoyed?" Donald looked at her. She looked back at him, and the two held eye contact until Davenport looked away.

"Fine, Tasha, I give." Davenport sighed. "You're right, it was the 'Daddy Donnie' comment."

"Now why would that upset you? You, the brilliant and wealthy tech mogul by day, superior boss man to a team of bionic kids by night?" Tasha demanded, smirking. "Does it get on your nerves because that who you don't want to be? A father to those three kids?"

"You are so off, Tasha." Davenport grinned cheekily. "And here I thought you said you knew me better than I gave you credit for?" Tasha scowled at him. "It's not that I don't to be, I can't be, not now. Not after the image of myself I gave them, and the image that all I care about is making a fast dollar. And more times than I want to admit, that's happened to many times in the past. Adam, Bree, and Chase wouldn't believe me, and I don't blame them. I want to be a father to them Tasha, more than anything else."

"You just believe that you can't." Tasha deduced. Davenport nodded sadly.

"It pains me, you have no idea how much. Yeah, you have Leo. You'll always have Leo. But did you ever have to restrain yourself from loving him, because you were afraid that he would rebuff you, over past mistakes and occurrences? That he would deny the very fact that you love him more than anything else in the world, because you gave him the wrong impression years ago, and now you have to live up to that?" Donald demanded. "You're so lucky Tasha. You have no idea how lucky you truly are. To be able to be a mother to Leo and you take it for granted! Whereas I have to scrimp and capture every little moment that I can be a father to Adam, Bree and Chase. You have no idea what it's like to have to force yourself to hold back from loving your kids." Sadness overcame his face. "You have no clue, Tasha."

"So what was with the 'Daddy Donnie' comment from Eddy?" Tasha asked.

"Eddy caught me actually being a father to Chase while he was sick, two days ago." Davenport smiled wistfully.

"What happened?" Tasha asked.

"Well, I thought that Chase was asleep on the couch, underneath his blanket. I sat down next to him without thinking. Next thing I knew, Chase was snuggling into my side and I had my arm around him." Davenport smiled just a little wider. "Its those rare moments that I'll always cherish, Tasha."

"When was the last time you held Chase like that?" Tasha demanded softly.

"When he was four, after a really bad nightmare. He'd been sick then, too. Chase has always been prone to nightmares when he's sick." Davenport sniffed, biting his lip. "Chase had had one two days ago, after Eddy popped up."

"What did you do?" Tasha asked, squeezing his hand.

"What a father does when he can comfort his baby boy when he has a nightmare." Davenport replied, rubbing his nose and chuckling. "Comfort him, soothe him back into a dreamless sleep. He-he actually woke up. And-uhh.." Davenport bit his lip.

"What?" Tasha smiled encouragingly.

"He called me Daddy. Bu-But he wasn't in his right mind, delirious from the medicine and his fever." Davenport tried to cover it up, but his voice cracked.

"Donald, you don't have to hide how much you're hurting." Tasha comforted her husband.

"Yeah, Tasha, I do. Because this is my fault. I gave them this lie that I care more about making money than them, even though it's not true. And what's worse, I've re-enforced this lie too many times. Every Christmas, every birthday, I wish for little moments like that, but all the time. I wanted to jump up and dance around the room as soon as Chase called me that. I want what you have with Leo, but with Adam, Bree and Chase, and I want it so _badly_. I wish all the time that I have it to take for granted like you do, and my heart shatters every time that wish isn't granted." Davenport wiped away a suspicious wetness on his cheek. "I hate the fact that I have to steal away little moments like I had with Chase two days ago, or with any of them. It isn't fair! Because I see parents all the time, enjoying their time with their children, and I can't do that myself with Adam, Bree and Chase. At least I can be a little bit of a father when there isn't a chance that they'll remember it. And I hate that!" Davenport huffed, his rant over. "All I have is the assurance that another moment like that will happen sooner, rather than later."

"And when it does, you'll have another keepsake memory to add to the mix." Tasha grinned sadly at him. Davenport smiled sadly back.

"Mr. Davenport!" Bree raced in at hyper speed, holding her throat and coughing up a storm. "My throat's sore!"

"I'll get the thermometer." Davenport told her. "Sit, and don't move! Where are your brothers?"

"Gone out to see a movie, little sneaks!" Bree hacked.

"I have a report to go do, will you two be okay by yourselves?" Tasha asked. Davenport nodded, inwardly smiling.

Keepsakes

"Daddy Donnie!" Eddy jeered. Davenport scowled, but pulled a sleeping and delirious Bree to him.

**There you have it! I hope you enjoyed Keepsake Memories and Moments!**


End file.
